Interagency collaboration increases military readiness and conserves threatened and endangered species

The United States military conducts training missions across more than 25 million acres of land that together contain the highest density of threatened and endangered (T&E) species of any Federal land management agency. As development increases nationwide, this high concentration of T&E species threatens to constrain military activity, which could reduce the capability of our military to respond to national and international crises. In response to this potential constraint, the Department of Defense formed a close collaboration with the Department of Interior to manage T&E species. This collaboration increases mission flexibility while also conserving T&E species and their requisite landscapes on more than 300 large military installations across the US. One example of this partnership includes the work of biologists from the Departments of Defense and Interior and their use of prescribed fire, habitat restoration and species management to enhance military readiness at the largest air-to-ground training installation east of the Mississippi River. Much of this work is done to conserve one of the most endangered birds in North America, the Florida grasshopper sparrow, and to maintain the rare habitat on which it depends, the Florida dry prairie. This collaborative work between the Department of Defense and Department of Interior should provide a model for how regulators and regulatees can work together to ensure that both stakeholders reach their goals, which in this instance increases military readiness and conserves T&E species and their habitats.